Naomi Berrill

Biography

Galway-born Naomi was taught both classical and folk music from an early age and had her first cello lesson at the age of seven. Now based in Glenrothes, Naomi first studied music at Glasgow University before going on to the RSAMD to major in cello performance with Robert Irvine.

Currently studying cello performance in Italy, Naomi excels in many musical genres and is equally talented at classical, jazz and folk. In Italy she has been taught by Francesco Dillon and Enrico Bronzi and taken masterclasses from Rostropovich. Her talent and eclectic musical knowledge greatly impressed all these tutors.

Naomi performs with the Italian Contemporary Music Ensemble ‘Musicamorfosi’ as cellist and vocalist, and she has worked as jazz cellist with Italian jazz trumpeter Giovanni Falzone. She has performed in a cello-guitar duo with noted Scottish classical guitarist, Neil Wilson, at many festivals, including the Edinburgh International Fringe.

Naomi was invited to participate in a 3-week jazz and experimental music course in Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. She is one of 14 musicians from Europe, together with musicians from America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia who have been specially selected for this prestigious course.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Awards provided the funding to enable Naomi to attend the Banff Centre for the Arts course in jazz and experimental music.

Since the Award

Naomi writes of the course at the Banff Centre that "I felt as if I had been given a new set of ears. I learnt to listen critically to music in a new way, to understand harmony better and play from musical scores that often contained no traditional musical notation at all." She was invited to organise a successful evening of jazz and folk fusion with the students on the course.

Without the financial assistance of the Dewar Awards I would have been unable to ... attend this extremely inspiring course which has broadened greatly my views on music and helped to shape my musical path.

The Dewar Arts Awards were set up by the Scottish Executive in memory of Scotland's first First Minister Donald Dewar